There have been a large number of cases of violence against coronavirus patients and the medical workers who care for them, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday.
The ICRC said it recorded 611 acts of violence in 40 countries between February – when the pandemic started to spread – and July. But it said it believes the real number of cases is much higher.
Many of the cases took place in Afghanistan, the Philippines and Colombia.
“This crisis has put health care workers in harm’s way at a time when they are needed the most,” Maciej Polkowski, head of ICRC’s Health Care in Danger initiative, said in a statement.
The incidents include assaults, insults and threats, and outright discrimination.
“These attacks have a devastating impact on access to and provision of health care when many health systems are overwhelmed,” Polkowski said.
The ICRC describes the attacks as fear-based – people scared of getting sick, grief at the deaths of family members or friends, and anger at being unable to have a proper funeral.
Pope Francis said Wednesday it would be “sad” if rich countries had priority when an effective coronavirus vaccine is ready.
"The pandemic is a crisis. You don't come out of it the same -- either better or worse. We must come out better,” Francis said. “The pandemic has laid bare the difficult situation of the poor and the great inequality that reigns in the world. The virus, while it doesn't make exceptions among persons, has found in its path, devastating, great inequalities and discrimination."
The pope added that it would be “scandalous” if all the COVID-19-related economic assistance ends up helping industries that he said don’t help the poor and destroy the environment.
“We must treat a great virus, that of social injustice, of inequality of opportunity, of being marginalized and of lack of protection of the weakest,” Francis said.
The family planning group Marie Stopes International said it expects a jump in the number of unintended pregnancies along with more than a million unsafe abortions this year because the coronavirus pandemic is keeping women from acquiring contraceptives and safe abortions.
The group said in a new report that 2 million fewer women in 37 countries received these services during the first six months of 2020 compared to the same time last year.
India and West Africa have been especially affected by the lack of access to contraception and safe abortions and the group fears more and more women in Asia and Latin America could soon start experiencing such problems.
An earlier U.N. report warned of as many as 7 million unwanted pregnancies because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Indigenous Americans and Alaskan Natives have been hit harder by COVID-19 than white Americans and are more likely to become infected at a younger age.
The new study also pointed to what it said are long-standing health and social inequalities among these groups. It said these populations frequently lack access to fresh running water, have larger households and are dependent on shared transportation.
